I’ll reserve judgement until I hear more. (Just kidding, Vick getting the award is a complete sham.)

Certain people, often with similar backgrounds and upbringings, don’t view dog fighting in the same light as others. There are certain social, economic, cultural and political problems in particular areas, both urban and rural, of the United States. These problems have resulted in the creation of a counter-cultural identity, often referred to as the “Thug” identity, which the denizens of those poorer areas aspire to fulfill, because with such attainment comes reverence and respect. Just like the denizens of upper-middle class suburbia aspire to go to college and, maybe one day, law, medical or business school, many (not all) of the inhabitants of poor urban and rural communities aspire to be ballers, rappers, etc. Because members of these underprivileged communities see no place for themselves in middle-class America, they carve out their own realm, with their own rituals, codes, rules and goals. Fighting pit bulls is a centerpiece of this realm. To compensate for the loss of dignity associated with being “rejected” by mainstream society, the image replaces the status symbols associated with success with its own symbols. The pit bull is a status symbol, like a really nice car or house. The pit bull is an outward manifestation of a man’s masculinity and place in the pecking order of the counter-cultural society. Many, many football players grew up in these communities, aspiring to fulfill these ideals.

Dog fighting is one of many symptoms of a social problem that has deep, deep roots, yet nobody wants to address those roots. Rather, they are content to attack the symptoms, like dog fighting, crack, gangs, single-mother homes, etc. It’s like trying to rid your yard of dandelions by going around cutting off just the flowers – not gonna work. Bottom line: to combat dog fighting, you have to combat poverty.

And I say all this as the owner of three former fighting dogs and avid rescuer of neglected, abandoned and abused pit bulls. As much as I hate people like Vick, it is far more important to me that people understand WHY people fight dogs before they attack those that do or sympathize with those that do. I want it to end, but putting people like Vick in jail isn’t going to do it.

Tom Brady got 19 votes (League MVP to 1st week IR to tops in the league again)
Cadillac Williams got 14 (Coming back from 2 knee problems and a likely retirement to 1000+ yard season)
Vince Young got 7 (Severe emotional trouble where he was going to quit to 8-2 as a starter, it’s now his job to lose)
Cedric Benson got 4 (Chicago’s discarded starter makes good in Cincy)
Brett Favre got 4 (Starter that self-destructed last year, starts again and self-destructs less this year? – OK I got nothing)

Didn’t Shanahan have Clinton Portis as his running back once upon a time? Oh yeah. And that worked pretty well. Ruh roh.

Typically blown out of proportion media bs.

I like your avatar. Saw them in NYC this winter.

I had to call out from work, over-awesomed.